I think my alternator is dead. For the past week there has been a new engine speed dependent whine. Different than the a/c whine (that is dying too).

Anyway, last night I get home and my remote won't lock the car, so I have to manually lock it. I thought that the battery finally died. The lights didn't flash to indicate it was locked, and the locking pin didn't make it's sound. I didn't think much of it because this was only the second time in history that I've ever locked my car manually, and I forgot what it was supposed to do.

So this morning I go to start it and there is no electrical activity at all. I plug in the battery charger and call in a lift to work. Well, turns out that when I partially closed the hood, the cables came off and the battery didn't charge. It is charging now though, I set it up after work. I'll check on it after dinner and try starting the car to check the alternator.

There was never any warning lights, codes, or dimming headlights.

My battery charger can put out a range of amps and diagnose the battery and alternator. However, even with the 100amp start mode, the car failed to turn over, and all lights and gauges in the car flickered. Normally, with a dead battery, this charger unit can start a car that has no electrical activity at all.

Anyone have any theories? Would a dead alternator or voltage regulator* interrupt the circuit and prevent the car from starting? Something obviously caused the battery to die as soon as I shut the car off.

Changing it will be easy, swallowing the $300+ will not be (pelican parts, reman). The dealer would have $700 for the same part, new.

*The voltage regulator can be ordered separately, and is attached to the alternator, surprisingly, the dealer would be cheaper for this. All price quotes from RealOEM, so I hope my dealer won't price gouge.

 

You might want to disconnect the battery and just charge it up. If the car won't start after that, a new battery would be my first purchase. Then with it running, test the alternator (with a fully charged battery).

Whine from the belts might just be the belt or tensioner etc. It still may be the alternator, but I don't see that as being the next step just based on your posts.

 

My battery was new in April of '09.

I tried switching the "engine lightning bolt" relay with the "snow flake" one, just to test, but the car was still dead. So I tried hooking the charger directly to the battery. The car started right up with the 100amp start mode. The battery showed fully charged and the alternator put out 14volts.

After I got the car started I poked around the engine bay and heard a hissing noise and noticed that the vacuum line from the pcv valve was split. I fixed that, the car was off of the charger at this point. I then attempted a restart. The car started up just fine without assist. Then I shut it off and put the relays back in their original spots. It still worked.

Could a relay be dying and working intermittently? How would I test one (besides switching them around)? What kind of electrical reading should those give on a multimeter? Electricity is magic to me. I don't understand any of it beyond what the values and units should be for car batteries.

Possibly related: Over the past few months, I have been logging an electrical issue. The car would start up normal, then suddenly loose all electrical power and die. After turning the key off, the car started up normal as if nothing had happened but the trip was reset and the temps were back to ºF instead of ºC. This has happened 4 times already, random spacing.

 

You may have a bad connection at the battery. Also, new things can go bad, so though it is much less likely that the battery is bad, it is not impossible.

Check the connections to the posts of the battery are nice and shiney as well as tight. A shop can do voltage drop tests at start and load test the battery which they might just do for free.

It does sound like a loose connection somewhere which can be a tough thing to find. Battery terminals are the first stop though. Second stop is make sure the belt and tensioner are working as they should be.

 

I think there is a TSB out there somewhere for the cable connecting the battey and alternator chafing...would cause the alternator to whine, since it is running at 100% output, since it thinks the battery is accepting the charge, but the battery may only be recieving a small % of the power...leading to a battery that dies, but a working alternator....and a good battery (for the first few times it is drawn down).
I would do a bit of detective work with a voltmeter, both with the car running, and off...the fact it was jumperable from the battery, but not from the provided jumper terminals might be a good place to start (I think that's what you said).

 

Good advice. The battery cables were tight and in good shape. I also hooked the battery charger to the engine terminals again with the car running and it read a full battery and 14.3 volts charge from the alternator. The positive terminal was tight and the cable looked good.

The car had started up this morning just fine, but I got a ride to work again. When I got back, the car started fine again. I've yet to drive it since this happened. I'll take it tomorrow if it starts, and I'll listen for the alternator whine.

I'll also check out the belt tensioner and get the car up to inspect the alternator cables from below.

Thanks for the help, guys.

 

I got some engine codes today. One was because of the pcv valve vacuum hose that was split, and the other was something to do with vehicle speed calculation error.

P0500 - Vehicle Speed Sensor 'A' --- this one caused the tire "!" light to stay solid
P2270 - O2 Sensor Signal Stuck Lean (Bank 1 Sensor 2) --- this was just the "service engine soon" The light was on this morning, first time driving the car after fixing the vacuum leak. The light was gone when I left work and I drove right over the AutoZone across the parking lot.

 

I had the start-my-car-then-all-power-fails issue again today. I have been keeping records of it, and had just forgotten the figures. Today was the 9th time.

Well, I got a new battery from Autozone. 100% free. Seems Optima has a 3 year free replacement warranty. They put their tester to my battery (over the cable connections) and it came out bad.

Once the new one was in, the car was dead. Autozone buy tried to jump me with his Golf, but it didn't work. I had to get jumped by a guy's enormous diesel truck. The Autozone guy checked the battery beforehand and it read good. He also rechecked my old battery directly at the terminals and it read good as well.

The consensus is that some cable between the battery and the engine is bad, but that any looseness or resistance was overcome by the sheer ampage of this guy's diesel, something that the Golf couldn't provide.

Isn't there some kind of replaceable segment just off of the positive terminal?

I also figured out that this issue is connected to my tach reading 1,000 rpm too high a week or two ago (reported in another thread). After this battery business, my tach was again reading 1k too high, but a gauge cluster reset fixed it this time too.

My car ran great the rest of the day and started up somewhat better than usual at all my errands.

I still got to keep the free new battery, though.

 

Like I said before, there was a service bulletin for the cable chafing....you kinda did a poor-mans load test with the jumping....a cable cut/chafed 70% or so will show a good voltage, but will not have the omph to start the car...the part from MINI from what I have heard is kinda $$$. You should be able to buy the cable in bulk at most auto stores, install it it, put new ends on it, and be good to go!! You may need to do some cable wrapping, or cable tie some protection to it (to prevent chafing), but it should not be too $$ once you determine how the cable is run, and gain access to it. Depending on where it is chafed, you might be able to fix it too, with some splicing, or a pair of new ends in the middle if you are creative...just be sure to thoroughly clean the ends, use some solder, and seal them up good!!.

 

What follows is a synopsis of the TSB which was issued in 2005 and applies to the R50 as well as the R53. An improved starter motor heat shield was introduced into production on 08/19/2003

Symptoms:
Oil pressure warning light lit when the vehicle is in motion yet the oil level is correct.

Charge indicator lamp is lit.

Loss of power assisted steering.

Cause:
Engine wiring harness chafed through on starter motor heat shield causing a short.

 

What follows is a synopsis of the TSB which was issued in 2005 and applies to the R50 as well as the R53. An improved starter motor heat shield was introduced into production on 08/19/2003

Symptoms:
Oil pressure warning light lit when the vehicle is in motion yet the oil level is correct.

Charge indicator lamp is lit.

Loss of power assisted steering.

Cause:
Engine wiring harness chafed through on starter motor heat shield causing a short.

 

Looking for some info on this TSB, looks like my car has these exact same symptoms. Started with baterry dying and now I lost power steering was thinking it could be the PS pump but most certainly can be this!